I received a photo from a friend in Rome who supped today on KFC… yes, in Rome.
In his honor I post the following, for your enjoyment.
With all the lousy news these days, from every direction, we need to break the mood a bit.
If only it had been Chick-fil-a!
The Holy Father appointed a committee to study – again – the notion of ordination of women as deacons. This was already studied by the International Theological Commission, which leaned away from the possibility of sacramental ordination.
It is good to know who the people in this new study group are. I know some of them already, personally or by reputation. I’m looking around for more on those whom I don’t know. So far, from what I can tell, the commission as a whole will probably lean in the direction of the impossibility of sacramental ordination. Several members will desire that outcome and are already “out” and in favor of it. Several members don’t seem to have pronounced themselves on the matter, but are “conservative”; they will not be in favor.
Of course we know Fr. Robert Dodaro of my old school the Augustinianum. He was the editor of the Five Cardinals Book™. [UK HERE] That was an extremely important book in defense of matrimony, brilliantly conceived and executed simultaneously in five translations. It is now in ten languages. He is a patristicist as well as a patrologist and serves also as a consultor to the CDF. He is a serious theologian and will be on the side of Truth. Have a look at his amazing (and hard) Christ and the Just Society in Augustine. [UK HERE]
In searching this my own blog for the names of the other members and about the issue of deaconettes, I ran across an old entry on the topic wherein I posted a precis of and link to a post on the blog Laetificat written by a sometime commentatrix here, Elizabeth Durack (no, she’s not a member of the commission). Elizabeth participated in an online seminar called (I’m not making this up) “WOMEN DEACONS MOOS” held by one of the members of this new commission, the infamous writer for the Fishwrap, Phyllis Zagano [HERE and followup HERE].
Elizabeth recounts her experience of the MOOS. The comments under her post, in which she responded to people who took her to task, are telling. HERE
I’ll keep digging around for insights into other members.
Furthermore, I think the only stoles that a woman should ever wear are mink.
How would that look in Latin, I wonder? Something like: Ceterum autem censeo unicam stolam umquam feminis induendam esse mustelinam.
I don’t think the ancient Romans knew minks, and if they did, they would have thought them a kind of weasel. Weasel in Latin is mustela, which is used in the scientific name for mink. I see, however, that the American mink has been distinguished from the European mink as vison (which is not Latin) rather than mustela. Mustelinus, -a, -um is the adjective. It works for me. Maybe some of you will have your own versions.
Moderation queue is ON.
The other day, pro-abortion, “practicing Catholic”, democrat Vice President Joe Biden performed a same-sex civil “marriage”.
In effect, Biden gave the digitus infamis to the Catholic Church.
Canonist Ed Peters has observations about this scandalous flipping of the proverbial bird. HERE
Some canonical thoughts VP Biden’s recent deed
[After discussion of why excommunication doesn’t apply in this case….]
But if canonical criminal law as found in Book Six of the Code is not (at least not immediately) useful against Biden’s affront to Christ’s and the Church’s teaching on marriage, canonical sacramental law as found in Book Four of the Code, especially Canon 915 therein, could be useful against Biden’s scandal. Canon 915, recall, directs ministers of holy Communion to withhold that most August sacrament from those who “obstinately persevere in manifest grave sin”. [What Biden did is gravely sinful and it is manifest and he obstinately perseveres in supporting “gay” (I hate the twisting of that word) “marriage” (and it isn’t marriage in any true sense of the term. For some of Biden’s history on this issue HERE.]
Let’s be clear: Canon 915 is a sacramental disciplinary norm. As such, Canon 915 is not a response to canonically criminal behavior but rather it looks primarily to address the classical scandal (CCC 2284-2287) given by one’s on-going, public, objectively evil conduct. [That describes Biden’s public behavior.] Now, standing alone, a single, albeit grave, affront to Church teaching (such as voluntarily assisting at one “same-sex wedding”) would not suffice to trigger Canon 915 (which looks for, among other things, perseverance in evil conduct), but it would certainly qualify as an especially egregious manifestation of one’s general contempt for Church teaching, a contempt that might have been demonstrated in other behaviors such as, say, on-going political support for “same-sex marriage”, and, for that matter, for legalized abortion, and so on. [See the link, above.]
Now, setting aside a very few 915 cases that could be decided on the spot (see my discussion of Canons 230/915, here), before being visited with the consequences of Canon 915, a Catholic should be formally confronted by the competent ecclesiastical authority about why holy Communion is going to be henceforth withheld and the steps required for readmission to the Sacrament explained. [That would be the Archbishop of Washington DC, where Biden lives. It could also possibly be the Bishop of Wilmington, since Biden is from Delaware.] I am not aware, however, of any Catholic official with canonical-pastoral authority over Biden who has ever made such contact with him. Still, whatever pastoral failing that past lack of formal contact might represent, it does not preclude their discussing his situation with him now.
And Joseph Biden, I would say, stands in obvious need of such outreach.
Can. 915. Now.
I picked this up from SpaceWeather while looking at news about your planet’s Sun gobbling up a dying comet.
GREEN-BLOODED BOBBLEHEAD: The 50th Anniversary of Star Trek is now. To celebrate (and to support their crowdfunded research program) the students of Earth to Sky Calculus flew the pointy-eared science officer to the stratosphere on July 24, 2016. Here he is at the apex of the flight, more than 32.2 km (112,200 ft) above Earth’s surface:
You can buy this collector’s item for only $129.95 in the in the Earth to Sky Store.
Proceeds from the sale support space weather research. Bobblehead Spock hitchhiked on a helium balloon payload that carried an array of X-ray/gamma-ray sensors. By launching these sensors 3 or 4 times a month, the students have shown that cosmic rays are intensifying–a trend that affects mountain climbers, air travelers, high-altitude drones, and astronauts on the International Space Station.
The day after the funeral of Fr. Jacques Hamel, slain at the altar by Islamic terrorists, police storm a church in Paris, destined for demolition, and drag out the protesters. Find the story HERE.
St. Rita is in the 15th.
“I think it’s like killing the priest who died last week for a second time,” one local resident said.
A parking lot is set to be built in place of the church.
Friends, churches aren’t gratis. There are bills to pay. If you want your church to stay open, support it. Churches also stay open if there are priests. If you want your church to stay open, pray for an increase of vocations to the priesthood and support well the priests you have now.
UPDATE:
I received this image and note from a reader in the know.
The young priest is Father Jean-François Billot of the Institute of the Good Shepherd… and was ordained a priest in 2010. In this image, it appears that Father de Tanoüarn is trying to celebrate Mass at the altar, while Father Billot is trying to keep the police from interrupting the Mass. The police could have and should have waited until Mass was over.
There have been many erroneous reports about L’Eglise de Sainte Rita, claiming that it is a non-Catholic Church. The Institut Bon Pasteur was asked by the young parishioners themselves to be their chaplains, after the Gallicanists who used to run it abandoned the church due to its impending demolition.
Father de Tanoüarn thought it was a good opportunity to reconcile these people, who were literally “out in the peripheries” — to be their chaplain, to provide for them the Sacraments, in full communion with the Catholic Church.
Interesting.
Toward the end of this video, you can see how the police move in on the altar.
Here’s something the Fishwrap (aka National Sodomitic Reporter) types will struggle with.
On 27 July the Holy Father had a closed-door meeting with the bishops of Poland. There was a brief Q&A. Today Francis’ remarks were published.
Here is an excerpt. From Vatican Insider:
“In Europe, America, Latin America, Africa and some Asian countries we are seeing some real ideological colonisations,” he repeated. “And one of these, I’m going to say it outright, is gender”: “Today, children, children! are told at school that they can choose their sex. Why are they taught this? Because the books are supplied by the people and institutions that give you the money. These are the ideological colonisations backed also by countries that wield a great deal of influence. And this is terrible. Speaking with Benedict XVI,” he said, “who is well and lucid, he told me: ‘Holiness, this is the age of sin against the Creator!’ He is intelligent! God created man and woman; God made the world like this, like this, like this… and we are doing the exact opposite.”
Gender-twisting, denial of sexual differentiation, same-sex and homosexualist agenda…
…SINS AGAINST NATURE AND NATURE’S GOD.
Remember what Card. Sarah said at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast? HERE
“Good becomes evil, beauty is ugly, love becomes the satisfaction of sexual primal instincts, and truths are all relative,” said Sarah.
“All manner of immorality is not only accepted and tolerated today in advanced societies, but even promoted as a social good,” he continued. “The result is hostility to Christians, and, increasingly, religious persecution. Nowhere is [this] clearer than in the threat that societies are visiting on the family through a demonic ‘gender ideology,’ a deadly impulse that is being experienced in a world increasingly cut off from God through ideological colonialism.”
Those who think that same-sex activities and gender-bending are acceptable, have mirrored the primal, Original Sin and Fall of our First Parents. They have listened to the demon, the serpent, the Enemy of the Soul and have subordinated God the Creator’s will to their own, as if they were there own little gods determining right and wrong, truth and falsehood.
From FNC:
Funeral Mass for murdered French priest: attackers were ‘Satan’
ROUEN, France – The archbishop of Rouen, leading Tuesday’s solemn funeral Mass for an elderly priest slain a week ago by two extremists, said the Rev. Jacques Hamel tried to push away his attackers with his feet, saying “go away, Satan,” remarks that underscored the horror of the murder at the altar that touched a chord throughout France.
Hundreds of priests and bishops filled the sumptuous Rouen cathedral along with many hundreds more people, including Muslims who have joined in the grieving since the murder of the 85-year-old priest, slashed by his attackers while celebrating morning Mass.
Hamel’s grisly murder sent shockwaves that went beyond his humble work as a small-town parish priest, touching other faiths and all of France. It came less than two weeks after 84 people were killed in an attack by a hurtling truck in Nice on a crowd of Bastille Day revelers.
“Evil is a mystery. It reaches heights of horror that take us out of the human,” Archbishop Dominique Lebrun said during the two-hour Mass.
“Isn’t that what you wanted to say, Jacques, with your last words, when you fell to the ground? After you were struck by the knife, you tried to push away your assailants with your feet and said, ‘Go away, Satan.’ You repeated it, ‘Go away, Satan.”‘
[…]
It’s coming, friends. Ask God to show His mercy and stop the wave before it comes to you.
I warmly direct the priestly and episcopal readership here to These Stone Walls, the blog of Fr. Gordon MacRae, an innocent priest unjustly jailed. He has a deeply moving and poignant post today which I won’t try to summarize or even describe.
Just go there and read it.
I will only add that, if things keep going the way they are going, and I don’t see why they won’t without disaster or divine intervention reorienting them, we priests ought to reflect on the possibility (probably?) of persecution. We must, now, try to get our heads into the right place beforehand so that when it comes, we will at least have the benefit of some spiritual preparation.
Biretta tip to Fr. Byers. o{]:¬)
In an email exchange I had, and a conversation with a priest friend, a couple ideas came up.
Context: Robert Card. Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, made a plea to priests to begin offering Holy Mass ad orientem versus. He made this bid during a liturgy conference. He wasn’t speaking officially, in his capacity as Prefect. He was speaking as a man of prayer, who has a broad perspective and a privileged vantage point to regard what is going on in the Church.
So, Card. Sarah (pronounced Sah-RAH), made his bid and liberals reacted swiftly and sharply. There were denials that the rubrics were changing, despite the fact that Sarah said nothing about that. Then the now-retired papal spokesman leapt in and added comments that “reform of the reform” is not useful or acceptable or desirable or accurate… or something. Apparently, that phrase is a cause of “misunderstandings”. Card. Sarah has been quiet since that talk and after an audience with Pope Francis.
This brings me to me to the ideas.
First, if the powers-that-be don’t like the phrase “reform of the reform” (which I wasn’t really wedded to anyway), how about something like “correction of the deform”? Perhaps that won’t give the wrong impression?
Second, I know priests who have and who are turning their worship ad orientem versus. I have a suggestion for them.
I suggest, reverend and dear Fathers, that you write Cardinal Sarah a letter, telling him about your experience in the parish or chapel of ongoing ad orientem worship or your move towards it.
You might write something like,
Your Eminence,
I am pastor of St. Fidelia in Tall Tree Circle in the Diocese of Black Duck. Two years ago, after a catechetical series of several weeks, we began to have all celebrations of Holy Mass ad orientem versus.
While a few parishioners resisted this reorientation, most everyone accepted it well cum serena pace. To my knowledge no on died from fright or became seriously ill because they had to see the decorative back panel of my chasuble. Similarly no one was rendered incapable of following the liturgy due to lack of sight of my face. I don’t not think that anybody lost her faith, had a case of the vapors, or spontaneously combusted.
A small group has begun to attend Mass at a neighboring parish, but several times more people have begun coming to St. Fidelia.
I have received numerous letters and comments that indicate an increased appreciation for the reverent atmosphere and greater sense of prayer. I enclose a few examples, in copy.
Also, attached to the present letter, please find copies of my “Pastor’s Page” series about ad orientem worship.
Thanking Your Eminence for your generous service to the Church and with every good wish I am sincerely in Christ….
While some of above is clearly facetious – mostly to keep you reading to the end – your notes to Card. Sarah could be a) useful, b) interesting and c) consoling.
Another type of note could explain to the Cardinal how you plan on making the change to ad orientem worship.
Another type could tell Card. Sarah how you were bullied, pressured or otherwise threatened into remaining versus populum.
Or a combination of the above!
You do not necessarily have to write to Card. Sarah in his capacity as Prefect of the Congregation, lest someone get the idea that you were asking for official intervention.
You could write to him in his capacity as Cardinal-Deacon of San Giovanni Bosco in via Tuscolana. After all, that’s what he is!
Here is His Eminence’s address.
Be sure to let him know that you remember him regularly in your prayers. Also, if you have read his book, let him know.
His Eminence
Robert Card. Sarah
Cardinal-Deacon
of San Giovanni Bosco in via Tuscolana
00120 VATICAN CITY
Just a thought or two.
The moderation queue is ON.
From midnight tonight to midnight 2 August, you can gain the “Portinuncula” Indulgence. This Year of Mercy brings many opportunities to gain plenary indulgences, but this one is special: it seems to have been granted directly by Christ Himself in an appearance to St. Francis. The Lord them told Francis to go to Pope Honorius III, who, as Vicar of Christ, who wielded the keys, would decree it.
St. Francis, as you know, repaired three chapels. The third was popularly called the Portiuncula or the Little Portion, dedicated to St. Mary of the Angels. It is now enclosed in a sanctuary at Assisi.
The friars came to live at the Little Portion in early 1211. It became the “motherhouse” of the Franciscans. This is where St. Clare came to the friars to make her vows during the night following Palm Sunday in 1212 and where Sister Death came to Francis on 3 October 1226.
Because of the favors from God obtained at the Portiuncula, St. Francis requested the Pope to grant remission of sins to all who came there. The privilege extends beyond the Portiuncula to others churches, especially held by Franciscans, throughout the world.
A plenary indulgence is a mighty tool for works of mercy and weapon in our ongoing spiritual warfare. A plenary indulgence is the remission, through the merits of Christ and the saints, through the Church, of all temporal punishment due to sin already forgiven.
To obtain the Portiuncula plenary indulgence, a person must visit the Chapel of Our Lady of the Angels at Assisi, or a Franciscan sanctuary, or one’s parish church, with the intention of honoring Our Lady of the Angels. Then perform the work of reciting the Creed and Our Father and pray for the Pope’s designated intentions. You should be free, at least intentionally, of attachment to venial and mortal sin, and truly repentant. Make your sacramental confession 8 days before or after. Participate at assist at Mass and receive Holy Communion 8 days before or after.
BTW… the faithful can gain a plenary indulgence on a day of the year he designates (cf. Ench. Indul. 33 1.2.d). You might choose the anniversary of your baptism or of another sacrament or name day.
My friend Fr. Finigan, His Hermeueticalness, has some excellent points and suggestions in his post about the Porticuncula indulgence. HERE
Also, HERE, Fr. Finigan wrote about the requirement that we not have any attachment to sin, even venial. He offers quite a hopeful view of what sounds like a difficult prospect. I warmly recommend it.
Coat of Arms by D Burkart
A Daily Prayer for Priests
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